1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing microbes from flowing media, such as water. The apparatus has an essentially cylindrical container, inside of which there is a reaction chamber with UV radiators arranged on the circumference of a concentrically arranged dividing circle, and which has at least one inlet and one outlet opening for the medium which flows through the reaction chamber in a direction parallel to the cylinder axis.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known apparatus of this kind (DE PS 28 51 013), the reaction chamber is in the form of a ring-shaped space which surrounds an outlet pipe passing through the center of the container and which contains the UV radiators that run parallel to the axis. The medium enters the ring space through an inlet opening and flows along the radiators and the outside of the outlet pipe until it reaches the end of the ring space where the orifice of the central outlet pipe that leads to the outlet opening is located.
In this arrangement, it has proven to be a disadvantage that, subsequent to the irradiation which occurs during the passage through the ring space, the subject medium has to traverse a considerable distance within the container, practically corresponding to the distance from the inlet to the outlet orifice of the central outlet pipe, without exposure to irradiation. Thus, much of the interior space of the apparatus remains unused, without even mentioning the frictional forces which necessitate the expenditure of additional energy when pumping media through the apparatus.